AGE-RELATED ACCIDENT RISKS - LONGITUDINAL-STUDY OF SWEDISH IRON-ORE MINERS

The study investigated whether occupational accident risks were equall y distributed across age categories over time in the context of produc tion reorganization and work rationalization in a Swedish iron ore min e between 1980 and 1993. Three phases of reorganization, defined by pr oductivity levels, and four age categories were related to age-related accident risk ratios using the Poisson-regression method. Accident ri sk ratios (ARRs) were found systematically to be higher during the two first phases and also for younger workers, in the cases of both nonsp ecific and specific accident risks. The steady reduction in accident r ates observed did not favor all age groups of workers to the same exte nt. For two accident patterns out of five, workers in their thirties a nd forties recorded higher ARRs than those in their fifties. (C) 1996 Wiley-Liss, Inc.